“If he’s not fit and not able to be there, then we’ll carry on. But I think it’ll take wild horses to keep him away from the game.

“He’ll do what’s right, he’ll do what’s best for Ipswich Town and if he’s best off not being there, that’s the decision he’ll make and we will carry on the best way we can without Mick.

“I’ve been speaking to him on a regular basis, we know exactly what we’ve done in terms of our preparation and we’ll try and carry that out for him on Saturday if he’s not there. But as I said, wild horses – he’ll be there!”

He says that while they have kept in contact by phone they’ve worked together long enough for him to know what needs to be done: “We’ve been in conversation every day, on the phone before training, after training, he’s let me know when he’s not been feeling well enough to come in.

“We’ve worked together for a number of years, so I know the sort of things he would want to see in training and once we’ve finished training, I feed that back to him.

“He knows how the team played last week - we played well, but we made some mistakes and were punished for them. He’ll be able to pick a team from the feedback he’s been given from this week’s training.”

He added: “If he can make in tomorrow, he’ll pick the team, he’ll set the agenda and hopefully we’ll go out there and finish off the week with three points, which will obviously cheer him up a little bit.”

The Blues assistant confirmed that McCarthy would choose the side even if he misses the match: “He’ll pick the team, he’s the manager. It’ll be his selection, his team.”

Despite McCarthy’s absence, Connor says he wasn’t required to have additional involvement in the transfer deals which went through this week: “Not at all, all that work was done before.

“All I’ve really had to do is when Anthony came in say hello and welcome him. All those things were already well and truly down the line and done, so there was nothing for me to do.

“I was taking all the training sessions and speaking to the players, but it’s been a normal week apart from the gaffer not observing training or taking training himself.”

Sir Alf - legend Sir Bob - legend George Burley - legendette Mick - legend in waiting At last a proper management team. Setting off from Matlock.soon and i know they will give their all on the pitch, on the bench or at home in a sick bed. COYB BOYS